The invention relates to a cooling module arrangement with a sealing element for a motor vehicle having a cooling fan enclosed by a fan housing fixed to the engine of the motor vehicle and a fan cowl fixed to the vehicle, with elastic sealing means extending between the fan housing and the fan cowl.
The increasing heat flows due to ever increasing engine outputs and ever greater heat inputs of auxiliary consumers into the cooling system, which have to be dissipated by the cooling system, place ever greater demands on the performance of cooling modules. At the same time the space available for the installation of such cooling modules in motor vehicles becomes more and more restricted.
The use of an axial-flow fan having a small circumferential edge gap affords a compact, practical and commonly known way of improving the through-flow and hence the cooling capacity of the cooling module. For best results, however, it is necessary to seal the gap between the fan cowl fixed to the frame and the fan housing fixed to the engine. Problems arise with this seal, however, due to relative movements between the cooling module firmly supported on the frame, with fan cowl affixed thereto, and the fan housing fixed to the engine, stemming from engine movements and twisting movements of the vehicle, together with deviations of components from the ideal position as a result of component tolerances, which have to be compensated for by a suitable sealing element.
Various sealing elements for overcoming this problem are already known in the state of the art. Thus WO-A-98/37319, for example, discloses a sealing element for the seal between a fan housing and a fan cowl of a cooling module system of a motor vehicle, with one end of the sealing element being fixed to the fan housing and the other end bearing on the outside of the fan cowl. The sealing element is elastic, so that it always bears as tightly as possible on the outside of the fan cowl. In addition, the sealing element has reinforcing extension sections, which project beyond the end of the sealing element facing the fan cowl, so that at least the extension sections remain in contact with the fan cowl at all times, thereby ensuring that in the event of excessive displacements between the fan cowl and the fan housing the sealing element retains its shape without being drawn into the fan cowl and also fulfills a valve function.
Further sealing elements for the seal between a fan cowl and a fan housing of a cooling module system of a motor vehicle are disclosed, for example, by EP-A-1 143 125 and JP-A-08-004530. At their two ends these sealing elements composed of an elastic material are fastened or clamped to the outside of the fan cowl and the outside of the fan housing. In the case of EP-A-1 143 125 the sealing element furthermore has a bellows section to compensate for relative radial movements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,426 furthermore shows such a sealing element composed of an elastic material, which on the one hand is fixed to a radiator frame and on the other faces a periphery of a fan housing with a small gap between them. This sealing element also includes a bellows section to compensate for relative radial movements.
A further problem with sealing elements between the fan cowl and the fan housing is that in order to guarantee their sealing function the conventional sealing elements have a relative large dimension in the axial direction of the cooling module system. This has disadvantages, particularly when assembling the cooling module, owing to the confined space in the engine compartment of a motor vehicle.
It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide a sealing element for a cooling module arrangement of a motor vehicle, which, on the one hand, ensures reliable sealing and, on the other, is easy to install even in confined spaces.